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Gov’t hails latest economic data as sign of recovery

Government officials said Friday that the economy’s growth in the first half of the year compared to the same period in 2016 confirms that Greece is, at long last, entering a period of “dynamic recovery.”

Citing the latest data from the country’s statistic agency (ELSTAT), which showed that the country’s gross domestic product was up 0.8 percent, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said it was a sign that Greece’s economy is stabilizing and getting back on track.

“The ELSTAT data show that if we continue with the same rates [of growth] that we had in the first quarters... we can reach growth rates close to 2 percent, which is something the Greek economy hasn’t seen in over a decade,” Tsipras said.

The prime minister’s aides echoed the same sentiments Friday. “This trend was strengthened after the completion of the second [bailout] review, the country’s successful return to international money markets and the upgrades given to Greece by the international rating agencies,” sources from the prime minister’s office said.

Meanwhile, ahead of the Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF), Tsipras will on Tuesday attend the official handover ceremony of the Ionian Highway, which was completed earlier this month. The day after that he will head to the northern town of Kavala to meet his Bulgarian counterpart Boiko Borisov and sign an agreement for a railroad linking the ports of Kavala and Alexandroupoli with those of Burgas and Varna in Bulgaria.